CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) - Ward Crutchfield, a former Tennessee Senate Majority leader who served in the General Assembly for 31 years before he was convicted of bribery, has died.
His wife Joan “Bunny” Crutchfield said her husband died Sunday at a Chattanooga hospital. He was 87.
His death was first reported in the Chattanooga Times Free Press (https://bit.ly/1X9MPIJ).
Crutchfield had already lost his majority leader post in May 2005, when he was caught up in an FBI sting code-named Tennessee Waltz, along with four other lawmakers. He pleaded guilty to bribery in 2007, acknowledging he took $3,000 in FBI money.
He was sentenced to two years in prison and a $3,000 fine. But given his age and poor health, he was allowed to serve six months of home confinement instead of incarceration.
The senator was known to sponsor virtually anything, and he was infamous for knowing little about some of the bills he presented in committee, often calling a business owner, nonprofit executive or lobbyist up to the podium to explain things.
“Anybody can pass a bill up here, but it takes real skill to pass a bill you haven’t read,” Crutchfield told reporters on more than one occasion.
But Crutchfield was also known as a tenacious advocate for causes he knew well, like the Chattanooga Zoo and the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga.
Former Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Paul Smith, a longtime political ally, praised Crutchfield’s commitment to his constituents.
“I think he really cared about education and he really cared about quality of life for the people who lived here,” Smith said. “He was always open to listening to everybody and he really was about building up Chattanooga and Hamilton County as well as the state.”
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